Shaun White '110 percent' for Sochi

Jan 27, 2014Associated Press

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Shaun White skipped X Games Aspen this year to focus on training for the Olympics.

ASPEN, Colo. -- Shaun White headed home from a week of training Sunday, with his coach declaring him "110 percent" healthy for the Olympics despite a nasty-looking shiner under the snowboarder's right eye.

Bud Keene said White benefited greatly from the four-day session on the private halfpipe and slopestyle course at Copper Mountain, where he landed hard and face-first into an air bag while practicing Saturday.

He also has been nursing his left ankle, which he sprained in December during the season's first Olympic qualifier. He opted against competing in X Games Aspen 2014 so he could focus on the tricks he'll need in Sochi, starting Feb. 6 with slopestyle qualifying.

Keene said White saw one of the world's top slopestyle riders, Mark McMorris, go down hard and break a rib in the X Games Snowboard Slopestyle final Saturday. McMorris said he still plans to compete in the Olympics.

"That was certainly unfortunate, and we were sad to see that happen to Mark," Keene told The Associated Press. "Obviously, it's not the end of the world for him. That highlighted our decision in a good way."

But, he said, the risk of injury wasn't the main reason White skipped X Games.

It was simply the need for more training after a hectic qualifying schedule that included the ankle injury and a nasty fall in a slopestyle qualifier in Mammoth Lakes, Calif.

Despite all that, White qualified for both halfpipe and slopestyle, and will have a chance to win a third gold medal in halfpipe and take the first ever awarded in slopestyle.

White will spend a few days at home before heading to Germany, where the U.S. Olympic Committee will give athletes final paperwork and instructions before sending them on charter flights to Sochi.

Slopestyle training starts Feb. 3, with the competition beginning three days later.